US Troops To Harmuz A Sand Pebbles Moment?

US placing armed sailors & Marines on tankers to stop Iran’s attacks? Is this another “Sand Pebbles” Catch 22 & warning shot as to what can happen when American lives unilaterally put at risk? Where’s UN when you need it?

As the AP & WSJ coverage says, the “Pentagon is poised to offer armed sailors & Marines to commercial vessels transiting the Persian Gulf region to deter Iranian forces from [increasingly] attacking the ships.” If a go, the US military would be expected to put its forces on those most vulnerable ships sailing through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, a favorite sitting duck choke point for Iranian raiders, where about a fifth of the world’s oil passes. Says the WSJ: “The scale & scope of the new effort could mean hundreds of military personnel already deployed to the region would be offered to ship operators whose vessels are considered high risk.”

It's hard not to put such a move on the table. But, neither the Pentagon nor UN have responded to requests for comment. Nor is there any indication the oil producing countries IN THE REGION benefiting from the oil traffic are willing to participate in some kind of coordinated joint effort. Is that asking too much? Not that US military personnel wouldn’t perform brilliantly as did the San Pablo’s rebellious machinist’s mate Steve McQueen in the 1966 movie. Recall Jake Holman was enlisted to participate in a desperate attempt to rescue American citizens entrapped in a late-1920s uprising along Imperial China’s Yangtze River. Then as now, has the potential cost of American lives been factored into the diplomatic calculations? “Pebbles” after all are said to “represent the things in your life that matter, but that you could live without.” It’s also a reminder that “Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes one [or nation] to stumble.”

Davd Soul